Linux Networx is building a new, high-performance 2,132-CPU Linux cluster supercomputer for the U.S. Department of Defense as part of an IT modernization program being undertaken by the agency.

In an announcement today, Salt Lake City-based Linux Networx said the Evolocity II cluster will be used by the Army Research Laboratory Major Shared Resource Center (MSRC) as part of the Defense Department's High Performance Computing Modernization Program.

The supercomputer will be used to increase the research capabilities in the lab, said Charles Nietubicz, acting deputy director of the computational and information sciences directorate at the Army Research Laboratory. The machine, being built at the Army's Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Aberdeen, Md., will be used for weapons research, including calculating projectional dynamics for weapons systems, battlefield weather simulations and battle survivability, he said.

It will also be used by the lab to help develop advanced technology that can be used in the future by the U.S. military.

The lab looked at several supercomputer vendors that bid for the contract and selected Linux Networx after reviewing many performance criteria, Nietubicz said. "The Linux Networx system gave us the best choice for what we wanted to do," he said.